1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of cutting and hemming flat goods such as bed sheets, towels, etc., and particularly to a system that marks the finished product at a predetermined location on the product if the product bears a flaw that appears at any location on the product.
2. Description of Prior Art
When bed sheets, towels and other flat goods are manufactured, the sheet material is taken from a supply and moved along its length to a cutter which cuts the sheet material into shorter segments. In most instances, the side edges of the sheet material will be hemmed or otherwise edge treated as the sheet material is moved toward the cutter, and the end edges are hemmed after the cutting step. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,580,198 (Teed et al.), 3,772,948 (Burton) and 3,955,515 (Elsas) illustrate various cutting and hemming equipment. After the cutting and hemming steps have been completed, the product is usually folded and packaged for shipment to a retail merchant, etc. When the sheet material has a flaw, such as a tear in the material or a defect in the print applied to the material, the manufacturer must eliminate the flawed portion of the sheet material from the final first line products which are to be delivered to the retail merchant. In most instances the manufacturing procedures are not interrupted when a flaw appears in the sheet material and the flaw is observed by an inspector observing the final product. In other procedures an inspector watches the sheet material entering the equipment and when a flaw appears in the sheet material the inspector applies marks on the sheet material so that the final product can be identified as a "second." One procedure for marking the portion of the sheet material which includes a flaw comprises applying a strip of tape to the edge of the sheet material adjacent a flaw. The workers that receive the final product can identify the product as a "second" upon seeing the tape and can remove the product from the first quality goods. However, the movement of the sheet material through the humming and cutting apparatus usually must be interrupted to apply the tape or other mark to the sheet material. In some instances the tape and other items applied to the sheet material will be accidentally removed from the sheet material or transposed from a flawed portion of the sheet material to another area that does not bear a flaw, and when the final product is folded and packaged for shipment to a retail customer, etc., the product must be carefully inspected to find the tape, to assure that the product is identified as a "second."